Sunette Stella Viljoen-Louw, née Viljoen (born 6 October 1983),2014 CWG profile is a South African sportswoman who has represented her country in both cricket and athletics. In athletics, she competes as a javelin thrower and has won an Olympic silver medal (in 2016) and two Commonwealth Games gold medals (in 2006 and 2010), as well as medals in various other competitions. As a cricketer, she represented the South African national team between 2000 and 2002, including at the 2000 World Cup in New Zealand.

Early life and cricket career Viljoen was born in Rustenburg, Transvaal (present-day North West).South Africa / Players / Sunnette Viljoen – ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 19 August 2016. She attended Die Hoërskool Rustenburg and her first language is Afrikaans."Rustenburg is proud of Sunette Viljoen!", Rusties. Retrieved 19 August 2016.Noni Mokati, Viljoen made her international cricket debut for South Africa in June 2000, in a One Day International (ODI) match against England.Women's ODI matches played by Sunnette Viljoen – CricketArchive. Retrieved 19 August 2016. She was 17 years and 10 days old at the time, becoming the youngest woman to play ODI cricket for South Africa (a record since broken by several others).Records / Women's One-Day Internationals / Individual records (captains, players, umpires) / Youngest players – ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 19 August 2016. Later in the year, Viljoen was selected in the South African squad for the 2000 Women's World Cup in New Zealand. A right-handed all-rounder, she appeared in all eight of her team's matches at the tournament, and against England scored 54 not out, which was to be the highest score of her ODI career.Statistics / Statsguru / S Viljoen / Women's One-Day Internationals / Batting – ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 19 August 2016. Against Ireland in a later match, she took 3/27 from ten overs, the best bowling figures of her international career.Statistics / Statsguru / S Viljoen / Women's One-Day Internationals / Bowling – ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 19 August 2016. Viljoen's final international matches for South Africa came in March 2002, in a home series against India. She played four ODIs and the only Test match of her career, in which she scored 17 runs in the first innings and 71 in the second (the third-highest score of the match).India Women tour of South Africa, Only Test: South Africa Women v India Women at Paarl, Mar 19-22, 2002 – ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 19 August 2016.

In December 2021, Viljoen made a return to cricket, joining Northerns with the aim of playing for her country again.

Athletics career

In 2007 Viljoen accidentally threw a javelin at Šebrle, a Czech athlete who was the world champion in the Decathlon at the time and the first person to pass the 9,000 point mark. The javelin pierced his right shoulder and while he made a recovery and continued to compete this incident was close to ending his career and potentially even killing him, making this a close miss. Viljoen won gold at the 2009 Summer Universiade in Belgrade, throwing 62.52 metres. At the qualifying round, she set a new African record 65.46 metres, eclipsing her compatriot Justine Robbeson's record 63.49m achieved in Potchefstroom in February 2008. Viljoen's throw was over three meters further than her previous PB of 62.24 m achieved also at the February 2008 meeting in Potchefstroom.IAAF, 8 July 2009: 65.46m African record in the Javelin Throw for Viljoen in Belgrade – World University Games Day 1 On 14 June 2010, she broke her own record with 66.38 m at the Josef Odložil Memorial in Prague.

Viljoen won silver at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, on 2 September 2011. With a throw of 68.38m, she also set a new African record. She improved her own African record to 69.35m at the Adidas Grand Prix in New York City in June 2012 Having failed to reach the final at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, she finished fourth at the 2012 Summer Olympics, only 0.38 cm off the bronze medal-winning mark.

At the 2013 World Championships in Athletics, which was held in Moscow, Viljoen took only the 6th place with a mark of 63.58 meters. In 2014, she placed second at the Commonwealth Games. Later that year she won the African Championships with a result of 65.32m. Viljoen came second to Israel's Marharyta Dorozhon, at the IAAF Diamond League Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway, on 11 June 2015.

Viljoen won the silver medal in the women's javelin at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Competition record Representing 2003World ChampionshipsParis, France16th (q)56.78 mAll-Africa GamesAbuja, Nigeria3rd51.68 mAfro-Asian GamesHyderabad, India1st55.49 m2004African ChampionshipsBrazzaville, Republic of the Congo1st60.13 mOlympic GamesAthens, Greece35th (q)54.45 m2005Universiadeİzmir, Turkey12th51.09 m2006Commonwealth GamesMelbourne, Australia1st60.72 mAfrican ChampionshipsBambous, Mauritius2nd55.64 m2007All-Africa GamesAlgiers, Algeria3rd54.46 mUniversiadeBangkok, Thailand5th58.39 m2008African ChampionshipsAddis Ababa, Ethiopia1st55.17 mOlympic GamesBeijing, China33rd (q)55.58 m2009UniversiadeBelgrade, Serbia1st62.52 mWorld ChampionshipsBerlin, Germany18th (q)56.83 m2010African ChampionshipsNairobi, Kenya1st63.33 mCommonwealth GamesDelhi, India1st62.34 m2011UniversiadeShenzhen, China1st66.47 mWorld ChampionshipsDaegu, South Korea2nd68.38 m2012Olympic GamesLondon, United Kingdom4th64.53 m2013World ChampionshipsMoscow, Russia6th63.58 m2014Commonwealth GamesGlasgow, United Kingdom2nd63.19 mAfrican ChampionshipsMarrakesh, Morocco 1st65.32 m2015World Championships Beijing, China3rd65.79 m2016African ChampionshipsDurban, South Africa 1st64.08 mOlympic GamesRio de Janeiro, Brazil 2nd64.92 m2018Commonwealth GamesGold Coast, Australia3rd62.08 m2019African GamesRabat, Morocco3rd53.44 mWorld ChampionshipsDoha, Qatar17th (q)60.10 m

References

External links